Figure legends
Figure 1 Conceptual framework for ‘Get (absorption)-Save (resorption)-Return (decomposition)’ continuum and its linkage with leaf economics spectrum. (a) , the ‘GSR’ continuum comprises an active trade-off between root nutrient absorption and leaf nutrient resorption as well as a passive trade-off between leaf nutrient resorption and leaf-litter decomposition; (b) , the acquisitive-strategy species running on a fast lane get more nutrients, resorb less nutrients, and return nutrients fast; (c) , the conservative-strategy species running on a slow lane get less nutrients, resorb more nutrients, and return nutrient slowly. In b and c, circle size indicates relative effect strength and grey line indicates no relationship between root absorption and leaf-litter decomposition.
Figure 2 Pairwise correlations among nutrient-associated processes across all species (a, n = 15) and species hosting arbuscular mycorrhizal (b, AM, n = 8) and ectomycorrhizal (c, ECM, n = 7) fungi. The size of the circle is proportional to the correlation coefficient. The cross indicates that the correlations are not significant, P > 0.05. NAP is nitrogen acquisitive potential, PAP is phosphorus acquisitive potential, NRE is nitrogen resorption efficiency, NRP is nitrogen resorption proficiency (the negative of nitrogen concentration in leaf litter was used here), PRE is phosphorus resorption efficiency, PRP is phosphorus resorption proficiency (the negative of phosphorus concentration in leaf litter was used here), and ML is mass loss.
Figure 3 Principal component analysis (PCA) for green leaf traits, including specific leaf area (SLA), leaf tissue density (LTD), green leaf carbon concentration (GCC), green leaf nitrogen concentration (GNC), green leaf phosphorus concentration (GPC), and green leaf lignin concentration (GLC) for all species. (a), trait loading biplot; (b) species distribution in the one-dimensional trait space. AM, arbuscular mycorrhizas; ECM, ectomycorrhizas. See Supporting Information Table S1 for explanation of abbreviations.
Figure 4 Relationships of the PC1 axis score with phosphorus acquisitive potential (a, PAP), leaf-litter phosphorus concentration (b, LPC) and mass loss (c, ML) for all species (n = 15, blank circles) and species hosting arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM, n = 8, red upper triangles) and ectomycorrhizal (ECM, n = 7, purple lower triangles) fungi.
Table 1 Summary of the root and leaf traits and processes for 15 tree species and the pairwise differences between mycorrhizal types.